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Never Forget
- Thread starter The Rube
- Start date
MarkEagleUSA
C'mon Q!
aparch
Acetaminamerican
Re: Never Forget
Every year on this day I feel a deep-seated rage that will probably never be assuaged.
I guess the experience of having someone try to kill you will do that to a person.
Some of the memories of that sunny morning are still so vivid: a colleague looks up from his desk and says “an airplane just flew into one of the towers at the World Trade Center,” and my reply, “that can’t be an accident.” Then the next plane hits. No way to telephone anyone: land lines and cell phone service were both overwhelmed by the sheer volume of people trying to make calls, and back then texting wasn’t really an option.
Then the concern, “what is coming next?” and wondering if you’ll ever get to speak to the people you love again, wondering if you’ll even be able to leave Manhattan that day or if there will be some kind of quarantine. Finally getting home, only to learn about how badly the teachers at my children’s school handled the delivery of the news to them, causing them needless anxiety and fear. "Did something happen to Daddy?" "We don't know, dear." aargh.
Then, each day that follows, walking to work in the morning and seeing the plume of smoke rising from the ruins, and walking to the train in the evening and again seeing the plume of smoke rising from the ruins, day after day, week after week, knowing that the plume includes the gaseous remnants of people you once knew and collaborated with. Every day, seeing more and more flyers with pictures and the words “missing”, of people who disappeared forever that day.
Yeah, every year on this day, I am enraged in a way that will probably never go away.
Every year on this day I feel a deep-seated rage that will probably never be assuaged.
I guess the experience of having someone try to kill you will do that to a person.
Some of the memories of that sunny morning are still so vivid: a colleague looks up from his desk and says “an airplane just flew into one of the towers at the World Trade Center,” and my reply, “that can’t be an accident.” Then the next plane hits. No way to telephone anyone: land lines and cell phone service were both overwhelmed by the sheer volume of people trying to make calls, and back then texting wasn’t really an option.
Then the concern, “what is coming next?” and wondering if you’ll ever get to speak to the people you love again, wondering if you’ll even be able to leave Manhattan that day or if there will be some kind of quarantine. Finally getting home, only to learn about how badly the teachers at my children’s school handled the delivery of the news to them, causing them needless anxiety and fear. "Did something happen to Daddy?" "We don't know, dear." aargh.
Then, each day that follows, walking to work in the morning and seeing the plume of smoke rising from the ruins, and walking to the train in the evening and again seeing the plume of smoke rising from the ruins, day after day, week after week, knowing that the plume includes the gaseous remnants of people you once knew and collaborated with. Every day, seeing more and more flyers with pictures and the words “missing”, of people who disappeared forever that day.
Yeah, every year on this day, I am enraged in a way that will probably never go away.
Kepler
Si certus es dubita
Re: Never Forget
My parents' next door neighbor died in the towers, as did five members of my high school graduating class. I felt and feel so deeply sad for their surviving family members. For most of us, our grief is intimate and works itself out on our personal timescale. We lose a parent and we eventually find our way through it as part of the ordinary cycle of existence. Or we lose a child and somehow find our way to live with such an outrageous violation of the same. For them, they had all that loss and grief but also had some aspects of the meaning stolen from them, since it was first a public event, then a public cause, and finally a public memory.
This remembrance is simply for the people who died and for their loved ones who remain.
My parents' next door neighbor died in the towers, as did five members of my high school graduating class. I felt and feel so deeply sad for their surviving family members. For most of us, our grief is intimate and works itself out on our personal timescale. We lose a parent and we eventually find our way through it as part of the ordinary cycle of existence. Or we lose a child and somehow find our way to live with such an outrageous violation of the same. For them, they had all that loss and grief but also had some aspects of the meaning stolen from them, since it was first a public event, then a public cause, and finally a public memory.
This remembrance is simply for the people who died and for their loved ones who remain.
MountieBoyOz
Eater of Worlds
Re: Never Forget
DC Air National Guard story from that day..
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local.../2011/09/06/gIQAMpcODK_story.html?tid=HP_more
DC Air National Guard story from that day..
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local.../2011/09/06/gIQAMpcODK_story.html?tid=HP_more
mookie1995
there's a good buck in that racket.
Re: Never Forget
This was an incredible thread. No Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any kind of Social Media. USCHO was the social media. Thank you.
This was an incredible thread. No Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any kind of Social Media. USCHO was the social media. Thank you.
Double Eagle
Registered User
Re: Never Forget
Thank you aparch. I have been off the site for awhile but came back on this morning specifically looking for this thread.
Perfectly said Brenthoven.
St. Clown
Liberal Rebel Scum, apparently
Re: Never Forget
I re-read that thread every so often, and it's still amazing the different things going on with the confusion, the fear and true concern for those who were often at each others' proverbial throats around here. It's also telling in the immediate jump to blame and a few people looking to bin Laden so early on when much of the nation either didn't know him or overlooked him because he wasn't thought to have the sophisticated means of pulling off an attack so complex.
I re-read that thread every so often, and it's still amazing the different things going on with the confusion, the fear and true concern for those who were often at each others' proverbial throats around here. It's also telling in the immediate jump to blame and a few people looking to bin Laden so early on when much of the nation either didn't know him or overlooked him because he wasn't thought to have the sophisticated means of pulling off an attack so complex.
Re: Never Forget
In Tempe for 9/11 they have been doing a field of flags, called the Tempe Healing Field, with one flag for each person that died, with a tag attached to each flag with a few details about that person. It's very nicely done and compelling but not overdone. We've gone to it a number of times and will take the kids there this weekend when we have time.
http://raillife.com/tempe-healing-field-911-tribute/
In Tempe for 9/11 they have been doing a field of flags, called the Tempe Healing Field, with one flag for each person that died, with a tag attached to each flag with a few details about that person. It's very nicely done and compelling but not overdone. We've gone to it a number of times and will take the kids there this weekend when we have time.
http://raillife.com/tempe-healing-field-911-tribute/
Re: Never Forget
Still as stunning and terrible an event as we've had in this country. The loss of life in terms of victims and volunteers was staggering.
Also, its affects have and will continue to greatly affect the world. Today we live in a new worldwide paradigm (a 'cool' war) and I have little doubt 9/11 aided this outcome.
Still as stunning and terrible an event as we've had in this country. The loss of life in terms of victims and volunteers was staggering.
Also, its affects have and will continue to greatly affect the world. Today we live in a new worldwide paradigm (a 'cool' war) and I have little doubt 9/11 aided this outcome.
Ralph Baer
Let's Go 'Tute!
Re: Never Forget
Thanks as always, aparch, for keeping as much as possible of that thread. It is certainly chilling every time I look at it.
Thanks as always, aparch, for keeping as much as possible of that thread. It is certainly chilling every time I look at it.
Squarebanks
New member
Re: Never Forget
I was a sophomore at UAF...the planes hit between 4:00 and 5:00 AM Alaska time that morning, so most people were asleep. My mom called me around 6:30 in the morning and told me to wake up and turn on the news...by then the aftermath was just starting on the east coast. My first class that morning was some math class and the teacher obviously hadn't seen the news, somehow, and kept trying to get the class to focus. The rest of the day was pretty laid back at UAF...classes went on but they were mostly conversations about the events. Fairbanks is a big military town, and the whole area was quite shaken as we all knew deployments were coming sooner than later; I was never in the military but had several friends from UAF who were, and their lives were affected in a big way, along with so many others.
Since Alaska is on the flight path from most of North America to Asia, ANC and FAI handled a lot of trans-pac diversions. In particular I remember a United 747 diverting to Fairbanks; it was going from somewhere in China to, I believe, Chicago. There were all these Chinese people camped out at the airport...back in 2001 the FAI terminal was still a relic of the 70's and 80's and not really equipped to handle a 747's worth of passengers. As Fairbanks does in those kinds of situations, the town took great care of our temporary guests with random people bringing blankets, food, and whatever else was needed. A few days later when the FAA lifted the flight ban, I was sitting in the Wood Center at UAF and saw that 747 buzz campus as it took off for Chicago. That was when I knew life would slowly start to return to a new normal.
I was a sophomore at UAF...the planes hit between 4:00 and 5:00 AM Alaska time that morning, so most people were asleep. My mom called me around 6:30 in the morning and told me to wake up and turn on the news...by then the aftermath was just starting on the east coast. My first class that morning was some math class and the teacher obviously hadn't seen the news, somehow, and kept trying to get the class to focus. The rest of the day was pretty laid back at UAF...classes went on but they were mostly conversations about the events. Fairbanks is a big military town, and the whole area was quite shaken as we all knew deployments were coming sooner than later; I was never in the military but had several friends from UAF who were, and their lives were affected in a big way, along with so many others.
Since Alaska is on the flight path from most of North America to Asia, ANC and FAI handled a lot of trans-pac diversions. In particular I remember a United 747 diverting to Fairbanks; it was going from somewhere in China to, I believe, Chicago. There were all these Chinese people camped out at the airport...back in 2001 the FAI terminal was still a relic of the 70's and 80's and not really equipped to handle a 747's worth of passengers. As Fairbanks does in those kinds of situations, the town took great care of our temporary guests with random people bringing blankets, food, and whatever else was needed. A few days later when the FAA lifted the flight ban, I was sitting in the Wood Center at UAF and saw that 747 buzz campus as it took off for Chicago. That was when I knew life would slowly start to return to a new normal.
huskyfan
New member
Re: Never Forget
15th anniversary Sunday.
Lower Manhattan around the new Freedom Tower is more vibrant and active today than it was then.
15th anniversary Sunday.
Lower Manhattan around the new Freedom Tower is more vibrant and active today than it was then.
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